A1 · Alphabet and pronunciation
Vowels
Five letters, each one said clearly — even at the end of a word.
Italian has five vowel letters, and each has one steady sound: aas in fathereas in bedias in machineoas in British lot or a little closeruas in rule Two English habits have to go. The first is gliding: English o in go slides into a w and English a in day slides into a y; Italian vowels stay where they start. The second is swallowing: English turns unstressed vowels into a quick uh, as in the first and last a of banana. Italian never does — every vowel is said in full.
That matters most at the end of a word, because the ending carries the grammar. librois one booklibriare several; you say caro to a man and cara to a woman. Mumble the ending and you have stopped saying which word you mean.
e and o each have two sounds, a closed one and an open one: closed in sera and sole, open in bello and porta. Which one goes where varies from region to region, and you will be understood with either. At the start it is enough to say both clearly and not too long.
Two vowels side by side are both pronounced, each in its own right: Europa is e-u, not the you of English Europe; sei is e-i; paura has three syllables. Only i and u before another vowel shrink to a quick glide: piedesounds roughly like pyeh-dehuomolike woh-moh
The form
| a as in father | casa, pane |
| e — closed and open | sera — bello |
| i as in machine | vino, libri |
| o — closed and open | sole — porta |
| u as in rule | luna, tutto |
| two vowels, both pronounced | Europa, sei, paura |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
Every vowel is said in full, even at the end of a word.
Le rose sono rosse.The roses are red.
The ending decides number and gender.
Ho un libro e due quaderni.I have a book and two exercise books.
Two vowels side by side are both pronounced.
Abito in Europa da sei anni.I have lived in Europe for six years.
i and u before another vowel are only a quick glide.
C’è un uomo in piedi alla porta.There is a man standing at the door.
How to spot it
- -o
- -a
- -i
- -e
- eu
- ei
Example sentences
Mio zio ha sei cani.My uncle has six dogs.
Ho paura del buio.I'm afraid of the dark.
Le case nuove sono belle.The new houses are beautiful.
La luna è piena stasera.There is a full moon tonight.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English speakers soften the end of a word without noticing, and what you do not say clearly you soon stop writing correctly. In Italian that is exactly where the grammar lives: libro and libri differ only in the last vowel, and English, which marks its plural with an added -s, has trained you to listen for something extra rather than for a changed vowel. Say the end of the word as clearly as the beginning and you will write it right.
Say the last vowel as clearly as the first.
Your turn
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